Wade Miley LHP, 10-10, 3.75

Tyson Ross RHP, 3-8, 3.24

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Adam Eaton, CF
2. Willie Bloomquist, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Martin Prado, 3B
5. Miguel Montero, C
6. Gerardo Parra, RF
7. Chris Owings, 2B
8. Didi Gregorius, SS
9. Wade Miley P

Yesterday, I wrote about how the changes at Petco Park this year had apparently flipped the switch, and made it a lot tougher on right-handed batters than southpaws. That's particularly apparent if you look at the D-backs stats this season:

Ouch. That does go a long way to explain why the team has struggled against the Padres. Collectively, over the seven games at Petco, both LHB and RHB are hitting exactly at the Uecker Line - and the right-handed bats, including Goldschmidt, Prado and Hill, who have almost 60 homers this season, have exactly one home-run in 130 at-bats there. Frankly, I'm quite surprised we scored as many as 22 runs over the seven games, given the paucity of the Diamondbacks' hitting. Last year, the split was much narrower: though left-handed batters still did outhit right-handers, it was by 24 OPS points, .691 to .667. So, it does seem the changes have hurt our right-handers more.

Among those with double-digit PAs in San Diego, Miguel Montero is the only one whom you could unequivocally saw has hit "well", being 5-for-17 with a double and two home-runs. Didi Gregorius and Cliff Pennington have been decent, at OPS's of .818 and .771 respectively (the latter boosted by last night's three-hit game). The rest, however? They start with Gerardo Parra, at a .607 OPS, and go down from there. Goldschmidt, Prado and Hill are a collective .143, having gone 7-for-49 this season, but A.J. Pollock, at 2-for-18, will probably be the happiest D-back on the current roster when the series is over on Thursday afternoon, and we see the last of San Diego.

Radical shake-up of the line-up tonight, with most of the names not having appeared yesterday - Eaton, Goldschmidt and Prado seem to be the only survivors from what I can see. Interesting to see Owings get another start at second-base: looks increasingly like the club is serious about possibly using him there. Or are they maybe just showcasing his ability to play there, for potential trading partners? Could be that, or there could be a plan to have him back-up both Hill and Gregorius in the middle infield next season. I guess we'll find out what happens to Owings over the winter.

This will be my last formal piece for a couple of days: I'm heading off to San Diego, so will be checking in from there as and when possible. But otherwise, you'll be left in the capable hands of the other writers and editors [well, except for 'charmer who is on her way to Europe about now]. Or, as one of said capable hands wrote, "Eelfest 2013 is a go." I'll be back on Friday, to pick through the smouldering remains of the 'Pit. :)

As an organization, the Padres have famously struggled to develop young talent.  As a small-market team that can't afford to populate their roster with pricy free agents, the Padres have been glaringly inadequate in developing useful regulars - let alone stars.  Using Fangraphs' Wins Above Replacement metric  - where a solid MLB regular is worth roughly 2 WAR over the course of a season - the Padres have produced roughly one MLB-quality hitter under age 25 every two-to-three seasons.  Jedd Gyorko is the most recent inductee into this exclusive club - only 8 since 1994 - and he's done it in about ¾ of a season.

The Build-Up

Billed as a polished college talent with a smooth stroke and mature hitting approach, the Pads selected Gyorko in the 2^nd round of the 2010 draft, hoping his bat could make up for his lack of flashy physical tools or a clear MLB position.  In addition to swinging the bat well at every level , Gyorko played a solid 3^rd base and handled the transition to the keystone admirably despite relatively few reps at the professional level.  Coming into 2013, Jedd had nothing left to prove against minor league competition.

Not everyone was convinced that the West Virginia product would make a solid MLB regular.  Though scouts were impressed by Gyorko's ability to play an adequate 3^rd base, this could almost be seen as a backhanded compliment in that he is often described as a guy who does not look like a professional athlete - call this the "he moves pretty good for a big guy" effect.  When the Padres announced that they would groom him as a potential 2^nd basemen in the midst of Chase Headley's breakout 2012 the general response ranged from "well... maybe?" to #YOLO.  If the scouting twitterverse had sound effects you would probably be able to hear Professor Parks pensively sucking air through his teeth.

The Season

As the Padres opening-day 2^nd baseman, Gyorko was the first Padre making his MLB debut in an opening day start since Josh Barfield in 2006.  Despite an up-and-down opening month, Budbot continued to show confidence in him long past the point when Bruce Bochy would have benched him in favor of Geoff Blum.  Gyorko rewarded this faith by absolutely destroying opposing pitchers for the next 34 games - posting elite OPS scores of .907 and .924 in May and June.  In an injury we can only speculate as part of the Padres rookie hazing process, Gyorko hit the DL with a groin strain.  Perhaps he returned too soon or pitchers started to figure him out, because Jedd swung the bat like David Wells, going only 5-for-50 without drawing a single walk or extra base hit.  The Mountaineer recovered notably in the last two months, bringing his batting average back to respectable levels and taking 20 of his 43 hits for extra bases.  His defense has been rated as at least adequate by scouts and advanced metrics alike.  Though some are still skeptical about his ability to stay at the keystone long-term, Jedd has done a good job making the routine plays and he shows above average instincts in the field, helping to make up for some of his physical limitations.

Proving that he reads blogs, Gyorko has markedly improved his walk rate in the season's penultimate month.  Despite walking about half as often as he did in the minors, it's difficult to say that Gyorko needs to improve his patience.  Jedd sees an abnormally high 3.86 pitches per plate appearance.  He essentially sees as many pitches as Chase Headley, but has only 30 walks on the season to show for it, all while sporting a predictably high strikeout rate.  He's still getting to the deep counts he saw in the minors, but he's being aggressive on pitches he would have walked on as a minor leaguer.  Perhaps this is the result of Budbot playing him in the middle of the order and showing confidence in his bat.

What Does This Mean?

Gyorko's rookie year has been a mixed bag.  On the one hand he has been producing a lot of runs and driving the ball with authority - hitting more home runs than any Padre under the age of 25 since Adrian Gonzalez.  But this is not the kind of season anyone has been expecting from him.  As a prospect, Gyorko was pegged as a guy with a smooth stroke, but not enough strength or aggressiveness to peak at higher than 20 home runs.  Instead Jedd has knocked 20 dingers as a rookie, in about ¾ of a season, playing half his games at Petco Park.

Though he's hit for considerable power in the bigs, Jedd has traded this power for decreased batting average and walk rate.  Baseball America Ranked Gyorko as the best hitter for average in the entire Padres farm system prior to 2013.  Marc Hulet of Fangraphs predicted that he would end up a maxing around 15-20 home runs as well.  Prospect guru John Sickels seemed to toe this line as well when evaluating Padres farmhands.  It's worth noting that all of these evaluations were made AFTER he hit 30 bombs in 126 games in 2012, albeit they were hit in the offense-friendly Texas and Pacific Coast Leagues.  Kind of like how pulling a lot of girls in seedy bars in Williamsburg doesn't necessarily carry over to San Diego.

So what's the deal?  Is Jedd Gyorko closer to Jeff Cirillo or Jeff Kent? More to the point, why couldn't he hit a lot of home runs? A lot of scouts didn't count on him hitting for power in the big leagues, largely due to the fact that he doesn't look like a big league power hitter.  Though his swing is smooth and efficient, his batspeed is average and he doesn't have the same leverages that big, long-limbed prototypical sluggers enjoy.  Gyorko's physique is thick and stubby a la Sean Burroughs.  Though not traditional for a power hitter, Jedd's body type helps him generate considerable power on mistake pitches, particularly on the inner half.  His hips have width akin to a heavyweight fighter and his lower half is almost Greg Vaughn-esque.  This allows him to generate tremendous torque while keeping his swing much shorter than someone like Carlos Quentin or Nick Hundley.  Here he hits the ball almost 400 feet with hardly any wasted travel in his swing:

This ability to hit for power has clearly changed Gyorko's approach at the plate, and that change largely started when he reached the upper minors.  He's been approaching at-bats with a much more aggressive mindset than expected, swinging at more than 50% of the pitches he sees.  Though he's had marked success in early counts, his relatively short, balanced swing allows him to drive pitches in almost any count or situation.  Look at this swing he puts on an 0-2 fastball.

Unfortunately, it gets worse for him as the counts get deeper, hitting just .139 after a 2-2 count.  The bat control that was expected from him just has not been there yet, as he's whiffing on 13.3% of the pitches he sees.  Combined with his Venable-esque chase % on pitches out of the zone, it looks like he's having some trouble with pitch recognition, specifically sliders.  PITCHf/x rates him almost 5 runs below average on the slider.  Being aggressive early helps Gyorko avoid 2-strike counts where pitchers can finish him off with breaking balls, but sooner or later he's going to have to get better at laying off those sliders out of the zone.  Doing so will cut down on the stikeouts, but it's also critical in improving his walk rate and taking his game to the next level.  Many players improve on this with reps, and given his production and positional value its safe to say that Gyorko will get plenty of time to refine his game.  Fixing this weakness could knock down a lot of dominoes in the Jedd Gyorko package - perhaps bridging the gap between a "useful" 2nd baseman and a star.

Both pitching staffs were locked in tonight, and we were treated to quite the pitcher's duel. On the not-so-great side of the pitcher's duel, the offense was quiet tonight. Kyle Blanks was the starter for the home Padres, and he threw an impressive seven inning, three hit, one run game. The only run that he gave up was a home run to Paul Goldschmidt. In fact, that was the only run the Dbacks scored in regulation.

Wade Miley started tonight for the Diamondbacks, and responded with six shutout innings of four hit baseball. The worst 'jam' he had tonight was a first and third, two outs situation in the fifth, which he got out of with a fly out to center. Will Harris followed with a shutout, 1-2-3 inning of his own. Then David Hernandez got a turn. He started off the eighth inning by giving up two consecutive base hits, but then following it up with a strike out, ground out. Then it went down hill. He intentionally walked Chase Headley to face Tommy Medica with the bases loaded. Miguel Montero ended up allowing a passed ball which allowed the runner at third to score, tying the game at one. Chaz Roe pitched a perfect ninth, and the game went to extra innings.

Didi Gregorius hit an RBI triple in the top 12th to give the Dbacks a 2-1 lead. Brad Ziegler closed it out with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 12th. More details to follow in the full recap.

This is how tonight's game went: Five innings of nothing. Paul Goldschmidt hits a solo shot. Another scoreless inning. The Padres tie on a passed ball. Three more innings of nothing. Chris Owings doubles. Didi Gregorius hits a triple. Snakes win. Sure, there were a couple of lousy calls. There were also a couple of phenomenal defensive plays by the Padres. But after a very long, painful loss, I'm just going to dig into this pint of Ben & Jerry's and watch Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is the longest title since Precious: Based On The Novel "Push" By Sapphire.

Ian Kennedy faces off against Randall Delgado tomorrow at 7:10 PM.

Jodes had the most comments while Funk Football picked up the one and only rec of the night.

Record: 80-77 On pace: 83-79 Change: +1

For the first five innings, both Wade Miley and Tyson Ross traded zeros, and only allowed a couple hits. For the Dbacks, Martin Prado got a single in the second, and two batters later, Geraldo Parra got a double, which moved Prado to third. In the Padre halves of the innings, Alexi Amarista got a single in the third, but was stranded. Kyle Blanks and the pitcher Ross also got singles in the bottom of the fifth, but were left after Chris Denorfia flew out to center field.

The sixth inning didn't appear to be going much better right at first. Adam Eaton started it off by getting hit by a pitch. He went to first, but was quickly eliminated in a double play after he tried to go to third on a soft ground ball in the infield by Willie Bloomquist. Two down, but coming to the plate was Paul Goldschmidt, who then put an 0-2 fastball over the right-center field fence. 1-0 Dbacks, but it could have been better, but for a TOOTBLAN.

Turns out that was the only run the Dbacks were going to get in regulation. Tyson Ross went one more inning and finished the night with only three hits, one run, all spread out over the course of seven innings. He shut us down. Miley, though, did a little better, even if he didn't quite match the innings total. He spread four hits over six innings, but he didn't give up any runs. Will Harris followed Miley in the seventh, with a 1-2-3 inning, giving the Dbacks a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.

Then the bottom of the eighth happened. David Hernandez was brought in to pitch, and it wasn't easy for him tonight. Mark Kotsay lead off the inning with a single. He was pinch run for by Reymond Fuentes. Chris Denorfia got a single of his own to put runners at first and second, no outs. However, Hernandez followed that up with two quick outs. Looking better. The Dbacks decide to put Chase Headley on first to face Tommy Medica. Medica made an out to end the inning, but not before Miguel Montero let a ball get passed him that, by all accounts, he should have caught. A run scores, and the game is tied at 1.

The ninth ended in a tie, after a quick inning from Huston Street of the Padres, and a 1-2-3 inning from Chaz Roe for the Dbacks. Once again, we were headed to extras.

The tenth and eleventh innings saw Joe Thatcher, J. J. Putz, and Josh Collmenter throw two perfect frames. However, the Padres matched that with two zeros of their own. The 12th, though, would see that change. Chris Owings got a one out double, and was brought home next at-bat by a Didi Gregorius triple. That's all the Dbacks would manage, but it would be enough, as Brad Zeigler came in for a 1-2-3 bottom of the 12th  to get the save.

Source: FanGraphs

Nick Fury: Wade Miley, 34.7%

Agent Coulson: Didi Gregorius, 33.9%

Loki: Miguel Montero, -27.2

The Mandarin: David Hernandez, -22.4%

COTD goes to Clefo for this celebratory post of us breaking the all-time, single-season extra innings record. Yes, folks, we did it. The 12th inning of tonight's game represented the 78th extra inning the Dbacks have played this season, breaking the old record, that was owned by the 1969 Twins, by two innings.

WOOO EXTRA INNINGS RECORD

weltanschauung

by Clefo on Sep 24, 2013 | 10:20 PMreply unrec (2)

Not the busiest of GDT's, but we managed to get over 300 comments. I lead the way with 59. Clefo followed with an even 50, and late arrival DbacksSkins posted the answer to everything, 42. All present were:

4 Corners Fan, AzRattler, BackwardK, Clefo, DbacksSkins, Diamondhacks, FatBoysEatMeat, GuruB, Jim McLennan, asteroid, azshadowwalker, coldblueAZ, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, kishi, onedotfive, porty99,preston.salisbury

Same Bat-team, same Bat-place, same Bat-time tomorrow. Join us at 7:10 Arizona time as we once again take on the team from San Diego!

For much of his professional career, Andrew Cashner has been stuck in that uncertain zone between being a starter and a reliever. Back when the Chicago Cubs drafted Cashner in the first round (19th overall) of the 2008 MLB Draft, the 6’6" right-hander had just finished his junior season at TCU. He had been a dominant reliever in college, striking out 80 batters in 54.1 innings pitched during that 2008 campaign, but after drafting Cashner, the Cubs sought to develop him as a starter in the minors.

Writing back in 2010, just as Cashner was on the cusp of reaching the majors, Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein wrote this about the former Cubs farmhand:

Unlike many closers, Cashner actually has a quality changeup, and with his dominating fastball/slider mix in front of hit, his value increased exponentially in the rotation. He's been one of the most dominant starters in the minors this year, as seven shutout innings on Saturday gives me a 0.95 ERA in three Triple-A starts, but that's not what the Cubs need. They need bullpen help, and Cashner is ready. Let's just hope it's a temporary fix so all of this really smart development doesn't go for naught.

Dating back to 2009, Cashner had made 33 starts for Chicago in the minors, posting a 2.60 ERA in 100.1 innings pitched between High-A and Double-A in 2009 and a 2.05 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A in 2010. A week later, the Cubs did exactly what Goldstein feared they might do, calling up Cashner and putting him back in the bullpen, where he made 53 appearances for the Cubs that season.

After straining his rotator cuff and missing much of the 2011 season, Cashner returned to pitch out of the bullpen for Chicago that September before the Cubs traded him to the Padres in January of 2012. The Padres indicated that they intended to use him in the bullpen, and they did just that before seemingly changing their minds and sending Cashner back down to the minors in June so he could prepare for life as a starter.

Ubaldo Jimenez: An ace again?

Another forgotten starter, Ubaldo Jimenez, has bounced back in a big way in the second half. Can we expect him to keep this up?

Following a strong start against the Houston Astros on June 28, Cashner again injured his shoulder and did not return until September. For whatever reason, Cashner began the 2013 season back in the bullpen before making his first start this year on April 20 against the Giants. Since that date, and after a prolonged four-year period in which he waffled between multiple roles as a professional pitcher, Cashner has made 25 starts for the Padres and posted a 3.04 ERA, a 3.29 FIP, and a 52.8% groundball rate, which ranks sixth-best among all major league starters.

As the MLB season has moved into its final stretches, though, Cashner’s performances in the San Diego rotation have only improved. His ERA (2.14, sixth-best in baseball since the All-Star break) and FIP (2.91) have both dropped during the second half, while his strikeout rate has risen from a pedestrian 16.2% to a far more respectable 20.8%. In three September starts, Cashner has struck out 21 batters and walked just one in 23.2 innings pitched.

Just as Goldstein wrote back in 2010, the bearded right-hander’s arsenal is far better and more diverse than that of your typical late-inning reliever. While he always possessed an electric fastball and slider combination, Cashner has been able to mix in a changeup, and increasingly in 2013, a sinker to attack opposing hitters. That sinker has been an essential addition to Cashner’s repertoire, helping him generate loads of groundballs, as the pitch has the sixth-highest groundball per ball put in play rate (67%) of any sinker in the majors, according to Baseball Prospectus.

Along with his changeup, Cashner’s newfound sinker has allowed his huge fastball (currently averaging 95.6 mph in 2013) and wipe-out slider to maintain their effectiveness when he starts. Once his second-favorite offering, Cashner’s slider is now his fourth-most used pitch, but nevertheless, it remains his best, holding opponents to a .194 batting average against and generating a 33.7% whiff/swing ratio.

Pitchers like Cashner don’t come along too often. While the Cubs initially developed him as a starter, many believed—including the Padres themselves at one point—Cashner’s best role still lay in the bullpen. After finally staying healthy and getting a prolonged chance to start in the majors, the 27-year-old has proven his best and most valuable role instead lies in a big-league rotation.

Although the Padres have long been out of the playoff picture, Cashner’s emergence as a top-of-the-rotation arm is a huge boon for San Diego’s long-term prospects. Given the pitcher-friendly tendencies of Petco Park and the numerous young arms the Padres have developed, San Diego could have one of the better rotations in the National League in the years ahead. And considering how well he has pitched in 2013, there is little chance Cashner will be asked to return to the bullpen anytime soon.

. . .

All stats courtesy of Brooks Baseball and FanGraphs.com unless otherwise noted.

Alex Skillinis a Staff Writer for Beyond the Box Score and also a Staff Editor for SoxProspects.com. He writes, mostly about baseball and basketball, at a few other places across the Internet. You can follow him on Twitter at @AlexSkillin.

More from Beyond the Box Score:

• Celebrating Billy Beane and the Oakland front office
• Success rates for Rookie League prospects based on walk and strikeout rates
• Mariano Rivera on the other side of things
• Gerrit Cole's spike in strikeouts
• Does Todd Helton belong in Cooperstown?

I was invited down to Petco Park with a bunch of other Padres bloggers to meet new Padres President / CEO Mike Dee. There were five bloggers in attendance from Padres Public, and one each from Lobshots,Friarhood and Gaslamp Ball (hi). Six of the eight were wearing throwback colors of brown, gold and orange. It was pretty obvious what we had on our minds.

We were escorted up to the Crow's Nest high above home plate where the President's suite is located. There we waited. We ate food and drank drink. Most of Padres Public raided the fridge for beer like it was a frat party but some of us tried to show a little class by choosing to quench our thirst with Perrier unflavored carbonated mineral water.

.@gaslampball is such a jerk. He's been drinking Perrier the whole time tonight....with his pinky up.

— RJ's Fro (@RJsFro) September 25, 2013

It was good seeing all those guys again. With the multiple social media nights hosted throughout the year we've probably been able to get together about five times.

Josh Byrnes

Padres GM Josh Byrnes was in the GM suite next door with Sr. VP of Baseball Operations Omar Minaya and his actor friend Kevin Dillon.

Byrnes was nice enough to pop into the suite for a few minutes to talk with us. The Padres Public guys were asking him why he never touched his coffee during his episode of Cup of Coffee with Dick Enberg. I guess it's become a popular topic of conversation on Twitter. I felt a little out of of the loop since even Byrnes seemed to know about it.

I waited for a break in the coffee talk and then asked him a question about Coach Kentera's report that Cory Luebke may need an additional surgery on his arm and miss Opening Day 2014.

Heard @CoachKentera say that #Padres SP Cory Luebke may not be ready by Opening Day 2014. Hasn't progressed and may need another surgery.

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) September 24, 2013

He admitted that Luebke was still feeling some pain and stiffness but didn't want to go on the record about the possibility of surgery.

Byrnes is always very pleasant in our discussions.

Mike Dee

Padres President Mike Dee arrived in about the 7th inning. He's a charming guy with a very friendly disposition. He was all handshakes and smiles. He noticed right away that we were clad in retro Padres colors and said he was expecting the inevitable uniform discussion.

And so it began...

For about a half hour everybody was giving advice (some of it conflicting) about what the Padres should do. Rick from RJ's Fro was wearing a Bring Back the Brown t-shirt. He made a long impassioned plea for brown. This may be the three bottles of Perrier that I consumed talking, butI think at one point he even started to cry.

I chose not to say much, I mostly just nodded when I agreed with a point and shrugged my shoulders when I disagreed. The problem with the Bring Back the Brown movement as I see it, is its supporters all have different ideas of what it means. Some are only concerned with brown and they don't care how they get it. They'll take brown with navy blue, with powder blue, with tan, with white or orange. I do not support any of these ideas, in fact I'd rather we just keep our crap colors now if we're not going back to the original brown and gold that the team is universally identified with.

Hopefully someone in a position of power with the Padres will one day make the right decision. From my reading of his reaction I seriously doubt it'll be Mike Dee.

Dee asked what we thought about returning to some of the successful marketing that the Padres had in the late 90s. He wanted to know if we'd support the return of the "Keep the Faith" slogan. I think all of us did. He asked if we liked the Compadres fan loyalty program. All but one did. He also said we can expect to see more funny commercials like we had in the 90s as evidenced by the new one of Cashner wearing a luchador mask.

Dee told us stories of his days with the Padres before he left with Larry Lucchino to join the Red Sox. One was about the logistics behind the Eric Owens' dirty jersey give away. The manufacturer in China couldn't quite grasp the concept of a shirt that appeared to be stained with ballpark dirt. In order to give them a visual aid, Dee and others took a white shirt and rubbed it on the field of Qualcomm Stadium and Fed Ex'd it to them. It worked. Brady from Lobshots, proclaimed it "the best story ever told!"  Brady's enthusiasm scares me sometimes.

He also hinted at changes to the park. I get the feeling that he wants the park to be more like it was originally intended. He mentioned he wants the thoroughfare in the Park in the Park to be more like a street fair.

I asked him if he would consider moving the Hall of Fame plaques into an area that was accessible to fans. He was very enthusiastic about this idea and said he was considering a monument park by the sand pit. He also said he's thinking about replacing the "Beacher" seats (which he just had painted) with with a grass berm.

Unfortunately he didn't seem to be in much of a rush to get a new video board, thinking that the one we have now still looks okay at night.

Enjoyed meeting some of our bloggers tonight. Thanks for the feedback, guys. Looking forward to hearing from more fans at #TellittothePadres

— Mike Dee (@PadresMikeDee) September 25, 2013

Kevin Dillon

Kevin Dillon, star of Entourage, was sitting by himself in the GM suite towards the end of the game. Brady from Lobshots waved him over and developed a severe crush on him. He visited with us for about 15 minutes. He grew up a Mets fan and has known Omar Minaya for about 25 years. He came to San Diego just to see him. Dillon was obsessed with folding the brim of his Padres hat. He ragged on our old Padres 70s colors but kept comparing the current hat to some of the retro hats. Scott Marshall, the Padres' vice president of concessions and retail had varying sizes of retro caps brought up to surprise Dillon. He loved it. Dillion said they're still hoping to get the Entourage movie made.

Tell it to the Padres

Padres leadership will be hosting a Q&A that'll be televised on Fox Sports San Diego tonight. You can ask questions from the safety of your own home by using the hashtag #TellItToThePadres

Submit your questions for #Padres leadership using #TellittothePadres or email tellittothepadres@padres.com. They may answer live on air!

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 24, 2013

Tune in tonight for Tell It To The Padres w/ @PadresMikeDee#RonFowler#JoshByrnes. Submit ?s w/ #TellItToThePadres. pic.twitter.com/4aRgR3IY65

— FOX Sports San Diego (@FoxSportsSD) September 25, 2013

The Diamondbacks bested the Padres last night to even up the series at Petco Park, so the Padres will once again try to secure at least a series split tonight in the penultimate home game of the season.

Ian Kennedy will get the ball once again to face his former team. His last time doing so, he didn't fare too well, wasting a three-run lead by giving up six runs in just 4 1/3 innings (five of those runs coming home in the fifth inning alone). While the Padres rallied and went on to win the game in extras, Kennedy was tagged with the loss. He was also tagged with a loss in his most recent outing, when he surrendered six runs in a season-low 3 2/3 innings against Pittsburgh. Prior to that, he had gone 1-0 with a 2.12 ERA over his first three starts of September.

Randall Delgado will make the start for Arizona and try to repeat his past success against San Diego. In his only career outing against the Padres, on July 26th, he tossed a three-hit shutout. Delgado has gone 5-6 with a 3.96 ERA in 19 outings (18 starts) since being traded to the Dbacks from the Braves for Justin Upton.

See if Kennedy can rebound and fare better against the Dbacks tonight as he takes the mound at 7:10.

Randall Delgado RHP, 5-6, 3.96

Ian Kennedy RHP, 6-10 5.01

Diamondbacks Starting Lineup:

1. Adam Eaton, CF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Martin Prado, LF
5. Miguel Montero, C
6. Matt Davidson, 3B
7. Gerardo Parra, RF
8. Chris Owings, SS
9. Randall Delgado, P

With the win last night, the Diamondbacks clinched both an 80 win season, and sole possession of second place in the NL West. One more win in the last five games means that they will finish at or above .500 for the third straight year. But sure, complain about that while some Mets or Cubs fans starts a tumblr account telling D'Backs fans to "CHECK UR FAN PRIVILEGE." (Yes, they can spell "Privilege" correctly, but cannot be bothered to type out "your".)

Tonight's lineup has the feeling of one that we may see at more than a few points next season, depending on how the offseason shakes out. I'm sure there is some really clever response in the comments coming in soon that postulates "YEAH BUT KT GONNA TRADE MATT DAVIDSON FOR NICK PUNTO. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I KEEP A STOCK OF GUM IN MY MOUTH SO THE GOVERNMENT AND NICK SABAN CAN'T HEAR MY THOUGHTS. WAR DAMN D'BACKS."

Matching Ian Kennedy and Randall Delgado up in Petco Park might feel like the Baseball equivalent of slamming matter and anti-matter together (The matter in this metaphor being dingers.) However, since we sent Kennedy to the Padres, his prolific homer-giving-up rate has increased. In nine starts with San Diego he has already given up nine home runs (that accounts to a homer a game, duh.), which is already half of what he gave up while with the Diamondbacks in 21 starts. And while only three of those nine homers given up have come in his new home park, adjusting for Petco that's still a lot. What I'm saying is: Delgado's got some work to do to catch up.

Also: CONTROVERSY

So as it turns out the #Dbacks did not set the all-time record for extra innings played with 78. That belongs to the 1918 Senators w/82.

— Steve Gilbert (@SteveGilbertMLB) September 25, 2013

I don't know what to believe anymore. It should be noted that the 1918 Future-Twins played only a 128 game season. So on one hand you say "They did it in fewer games, that's the record, put an asterisk on everything!", on the other hand, 128 games plus those extra innings comes out to 1,234 innings played, while the D'Backs in 157 games with 78 extra innings comes out to 1,491 innings played. So, suck it, old time team.

Also: Jim and Charmer are both out of town, so the Marginacolypse can begin post-haste .

What started as a close back and forth game between the Padres and the Diamondbacks quickly turned ugly in the fifth inning, as the Padres brought in a slew of runs with two outs to batter around Randall Delgado in his last start of the season, as he proved that no park may be large enough to quell his home run problems. The bullpen was called on to help stop the bleeding, but they were less than effective, with every pitcher called in giving up at least one run, except for Heath Bell. The worst outing would be Eury De La Rosa's one out and four earned runs- though the last came in on a double allowed by Bell.

The Diamondbacks offense did tried to get to Ian Kennedy early on, breaking through with leadoff doubles in the third and fourth innings that both came around to score. But when the damn broke for Delgado and the bullpen, the Diamondbacks offense quickly fell near silent, never threatening to score and eventually going down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game.

Record: 80-78 On pace: 82-80 Change: 0

Well, if you sat through all of that, you deserve... I don't know. A medal? A commendation? A sincere apology? There's plenty of other topics I could go into detail here that would probably serve to be more interesting topics of discussion that this game- the burrito I had for dinner, my latest set of missions on Skyrim, my thoughts on character development in Firefly. Heck, I could recap the game of baseball that the command crew of Deep Space Nine plays in this episode I'm watching, and it'd be more interesting. (The Vulcans win, but Rom puts a pretty good bunt to bring in a run.)

Let's just get this over with.

(But, really, Captain Sisko- you're in the middle of a war, is this the best way your senior staff could be spending their time?)

It didn't start out well for the Diamondbacks. 1-2-3 innings in the first and second innings for the Diamondbacks offense, including four strike outs for Ian Kennedy. The umpires were calling a wide strike zone tonight, and Kennedy was definitely getting the advantage of some borderline calls.

Meanwhile, things started to fall in the Padres favor in the bottom of the first. Chris Denorfia hit a one out double, and then a Chase Headley hit a fly ball to deep right center. It took a lot of hustle by Gerardo Parra to get to the ball, but it clanked off Parra's glove and the Padres had their first run of the night.

It would not be their last.

(Sisko also is pretty emphatic that Constable Odo call the game. No robot umpires on Deep Space Nine, dammit.)

Oh, things got a little brighter in the third inning for the Diamondbacks. Parra doubled to start off the inning, and then took third on a ground out by Chris Owings. Randall Delgado singled up the middle to bring Parra in to score, and we had a tie ball game!

And it got better in the fourth! Paul Goldschmidt doubled to start off the fourth inning, moving up to third on a single by Martin Prado. Before we could really worry how the Diamondbacks would bring in the run, IPK took care of it for us- it looked like he started a "fake to third, throw to first" move before he remembered it was illegal this season, the third base umpire called him for a balk, and Goldy came in to score. 2-1 DBacks! Hooray!

That was basically the last bit of good news we'd see tonight.

(Worf has the best infield chatter. "Death to the opposition!")

The damage started in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Delgado reminded us of his home run-prone ways, giving up a solo shot to Tommy Medica (OPS of .648 this season). It was the only damage he gave up in the fifth, but we could come back, right? Well...

Bottom of the fifth started off with a fly out and a single Rene Rivera. Ian Kennedy grounded into a fielder's choice that was nearly an inning ending double play, but I'm sure that wouldn't come back to haunt us, right? Will Venable singled to left center, and Kennedy took third on a throw that might have deflected off his leg as he slid. That was followed by a Denorfia single to score both runners, and then a home run from Jedd Gyorko brought in two more runs. 6-2 Padres after five.

(Really, given that Vulcans are so much faster and stronger than humans, I think the Deep Space Nine team does pretty well in this game.)

After a top of the sixth inning that was only made interesting by a Paul Goldschmidt GIDP, that was the end of Delgado's less-than-inspirational outing. Matt Langwell came in from the bullpen and gave up a leadoff single to Medica. He came around to score on a two-out double from Rivera, adding to the Padres lead, 7-2.

The DBacks at least made an effort in the seventh, getting two runners on with two out, but a pop out by No Offense, Willie Bloomquist ended any hint of a rally. Then Tony Sipp came in from the 'pen and started out by hitting Will Venable with a pitch. A one-out walk to Gyorko advanced the runner, and that meant Venable was able to score on Chase Headley's single to left field to make it 8-2.

("To manufactured triumph" may be my favorite toast of all time. Sisko is the best Star Trek captain.)

After the Diamondbacks offense went down 1-2-3 in the eighth, Sipp was replaced by Eury De La Rosa. Who walked Alexi Amarista, gave up a single to Rene Rivera, and then had Chris Robinson homer to give the Padres an 11-2 lead before he even recorded an out. De La Rosa gave up one more hit, a one-out single to Denorfia to end his night, and then we got the Heath Bell Experience. This was the one we're used to, not what San Diego used to see, and he gave up a two out double to Chase Headley to give the Padres a double digit lead.

The ninth was a matter of 1-2-3 inning, and then it was all- finally, mercifully- over.

A GDT that started out busy and died out as the game did, stalling out just shy of 300 comments. Clefo led in comments, with me in second, and piratedan7 in third place. Also stopping by to add to the chatter were 4 Corners Fan, AzRattler, Diamondhacks, FatBoysEatMeat, GuruB, Husk, azshadowwalker, cheese1213, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, onedotfive, porty99, rd33, and soco.

No comment of the day, though. Comments of the day are for closers!

So we have one more game in San Diego tomorrow, as the season slowly trudges to an end. Stop by to chat about Trevor Cahill's final start for the Diamondbacks as the game starts at 3:40 Arizona time.

It's the bottom of the eighth inning at Petco Park. Alexi Amarista and Rene Rivera are on base with nobody out. It's well after 8 PM, which we all know is the magical cutoff time for hitting home runs here. Ian Kennedy's spot in the order has come up, and Bud Black has plenty of options on the bench. Instead of opting for Jesus Guzman or Mark Kotsay, he sends Chris Robinson to the plate. Robinson is a 29 year old career minor leaguer who has 5 at bats to his name. He took a 2-0 pitch deep to left field.

It was the third Padre home run of the night, and all were hit by rookies. Tommy Medica hit the third home run of his short career with a solo shot to right center, dropping it right on the beach. It tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the 4th. In the very next inning, Jedd Gyorko crushed his 21st blast of the year to the upper deck in left field. He now leads all rookies. Those three homers would have been more than enough to carry the day for the Padres, but they were only responsible for half of the 12 runs scored.

Chris Denorfia and Chase Headley both went 3 for 5, racking up 5 RBI between them. Rene Rivera went 3 for 4 with an RBI. In total, the team went 14 for 38 with 3 walks and hit an impressive 4 for 10 with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, could not get a handle on their former teammate, picking up 6 hits and a walk while striking out 7 times in Kennedy's 7 innings pitched. They fared no better against Dale Thayer and Brad Boxberger, who threw two perfect innings to wrap things up.

Tomorrow is your last chance to catch a game at Petco Park this season, and it should be a good one. Robbie Erlin will go for the series win against Trevor Cahill at 3:40 PM. Our own Bobby Cressey will be playing the organ, so head on out and keep him company!

The Padres close out their 2013 home campaign today following last night's run parade. With the victory in game 3, they've captured at least a split in the four-game set, but today they'll go for the series win behind Robbie Erlin. The rookie southpaw is in his fourth major league stint, during which he has gone 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA in four starts. The first of those four starts was against this Diamondbacks team on August 28th. He pitched a very strong game that night, keeping Arizona to just one run on six hits through six innings of work while walking two and striking out two. The most impressive outing of his big league career, however, was his most recent one. He tossed a career-high 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the Dodgers, allowing just four hits and issuing one walk while collecting a career-high-tying seven strikeouts.

Erlin will have to find a way to shut down Paul Goldschmidt, who is batting .417 during his 15-game hitting streak coming into today's contest. The first baseman leads the NL in RBI as well as home runs, five of which have been hit during his streak. Goldschmidt has yet to face Erlin in his career, having taken the night off last month when Erlin pitched in Arizona. But he'll try to lead his team to just its third win in ten tries at Petco Park this season.

The Dbacks are on a quest to finish their season above .500 and they need at least two more wins in their remaining four games to do so. Today they'll look to Trevor Cahill in his last appearance of the season to try to help them get one of those wins. The San Diego native is making his seventh career start against the Padres. He has a 2-3 record with a 2.72 ERA in his previous six overall and is 1-1 with a 1.31 ERA in three outings at Petco Park. It was here where he made his only start against the Padres this season, going 5 2/3 innings and giving up two runs while striking out a career-high ten batters, but he suffered the loss with only one run of support from the Dbacks offense. Though the first half of Cahill's season was frustrating to say the least, the right-hander has been nails since returning from the DL in August. He's made eight appearances (seven starts) since coming back on August 17th, going 5-0 with a 2.64 ERA in that stretch.

The Padres need two wins to match 2012's win total. See if they can finish their 2013 home stretch on a high note and get one of those wins this afternoon. Game time on this getaway day is set for 3:40.

Homer Bush never played a single regular season game for the Padres but like Harold Reynolds, Mike Scioscia, Alex Cole, Mark Prior, and others, he did manage to find his way onto some baseball cards as a Friar. Selected by San Diego in the seventh round of the 1991 draft, he stuck around the organization until 1997 without getting as much as a cup of coffee in the bigs. He debuted later that year after going to the Yankees in the first of two blockbuster trades he would be involved in.

Fifty-five games and nearly two years after going to New York in the Hideki Irabu trade, Bush moved north of the border with future Friar David Wells and Aussie Graeme Lloyd in exchange for bat-throwing psychopath Roger Clemens. Homer won the starting second base job for the Jays that year by beating out free agent acquisition Joey Cora, who retired before the season began. 1999 would be Bush's only year as a starter, and in fact his only season playing in as many as half of his team's games.

Bush remained with the Blue Jays in a platoon role and was consistently abysmal with the bat until he was released in May of 2002. He latched on with the then-Florida Marlins shortly thereafter and somehow managed to do even worse in 40 games there. Homer returned to from whence he came, signing with the Padres after the season, but was released by the club due to a hip injury before spring training for the 2003 season began. He missed the entirety of that year and returned to the Yankees organization for the 2004 season, where he got into the final nine games of his career. Bush was hitless in seven at-bats and that was all she wrote.

Since his playing days ended, Bush went on to a second career as a financial advisor. He was featured in the ESPN 30-For-30 film "Broke", discussing how players go, well, broke. He was displeased with the way he was portrayed, feeling that the movie gave the impression that he was one of the broke ones. In addition to his main gig, Bush finds time to coach kids at Blue Jays clinics.

Today is Homer Bush's forty-first birthday. He's pictured here on his 1996 Bowman card, one of just a handful that feature him as a Friar from his first non-stint.

Padres GM is optimistic about the 2014 pitching options.

Those are not my words. Those are the quoted words from Padres GM Josh Byrnes in Barry Bloom's article on MLB.com about Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland's progress coming back from Tommy John surgeries.

"Luebke's been good," Byrnes said. "He's thrown off a mound a couple of times, and he's probably going to come out to San Diego in a week or two and throw to some hitters. Wieland threw in the Arizona Fall League the other night. They both appear to finally be where they need to be in their rehab.

"Now, including the six guys who finished the season in the rotation, we have two more to compete for starting spots. That area has been getting better and deeper for us."

...

"We're pretty deep," Byrnes said. "Our pitching is starting to get there. We need some left-handed help in our bullpen. Maybe we could use a left-handed bat that can play a few positions. That covers us. We're kind of in a mode of where, how can we get better? We're just narrowing our focus to guys who can bring us up a level. We're looking at more depth than impact in certain areas. We have a chance to get better by just being healthier, but we're looking for a piece or two or three."

Bynes is calling the 8-some of Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross, Ian Kennedy, Eric Stults, Robbie Erlin, Burch Smith, Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland a deep pool of rotation options. Sure, if they are all healthy (in the case of Luebke and Wieland), ready to repeat recent success (Cashner and Ross), about to bounce back from recent struggles (Kennedy) and able to complete the jump from prospect to reliable starter (Erlin and Smith) then it is certainly a deep pool.

Now I am not trying to attack Byrnes for his thinking. I just wanted to highlight the way the man at the helm is currently looking at this team. He also been quoted as saying that the team would be willing to add starting pitching if there were a front line option available via trade. So while plan 1A may be to go with the options he has, plan 1B (should it present itself) would be to make a major upgrade. Perhaps that is prudent. No point throwing around money at guys whose upside is probably similar to that of the guys currently rostered, but still actively seeking a way to get an impact guy that won't cripple the farm system to acquire.

It is just not going to be a flashy way to attack the 2014 season.

I visited the San Diego Hall of Champions on Sunday.  The last time I was there it was for the 2013 Padres Awards Dinner and I forgot to take pictures of the Padres relics that are entombed in the John Moores Padres wing.

Now when entering the Hall of Champions guests are met face-to-beak with the San Diego Chicken.  It's both cool and creepy.  San Diegans are familiar with the Chicken, their all-time favorite sports mascot, being so full of life, but here his body lies stands in repose, encased in glass.

In case of emergency break glass. @HallofChampions. pic.twitter.com/fDbDwtQIA6

— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) November 11, 2013

Inside the Moores wing is where Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn's eight silver sluggers and five gold gloves are stored.  Alongside his awards are artifacts from memorable games, such as a jersey, ball cap and a pair of batting gloves.  I wish there was a pair of elbow length women's satin gloves attached to two holes in the glass so that guests could place their hands inside the enclosure and fondle each item.

In a long glass case on the adjacent wall is where treasures from the 1984 Padres World Series team are on display.  Steve Garvey's white Adidas cleats, jersey and gloves from his historic home run against the Cubs find their home here.  If only there were small breathing holes cut in the glass so that guests could press their nostrils against them and inhale the fragrance of a true National League champion's feet.  Myself, I'd like to taste the fine residue from Jack Murphy Stadium's infield that still linger on those shoes.  I'd lick those suckers until they were pristine white.

Terry Kennedy's jersey and cap lay along side Kurt Bevacqua's bat.  I love these uniforms and the Padres font.

Padres Cy Young award winner Mark Davis' jersey is posed next to Garry Tempelton's bat, as it should be.

The 1990's Padres seasons have a wall with jerseys and bats pressed into it.  There you see Gwynn, Bochy, Finley, Caminiti and Hoffman as they were in their prime.  Those were great days indeed.

There's a TV inset in the wall and if you press one of these buttons your favorite Padres personality will speak to you of his memories.  I want to get these same buttons installed into my home.

Up next was the Decade of Disappointment.  I do not have fond memories of the Padres in the 2000's, so I didn't spend much time looking at Khalil Greene's stupid pink bat, Mark Loretta's dumb jersey or Jake Peavy's bottle of champagne that he never drank because the Padres never won anything of importance.  So much talent, so much suck...

There's a whole other side of the wing that pays tribute to the Padres prior to their promotion to the Major Leagues.  You'll have to check that out yourself since I didn't take any pictures.

There have been six players who saw action in only one game for the Padres. All of them spent time with other teams, so they aren't true cup-of-coffee players in the strictest sense of the term. However, most of them didn't do much in their other stops either, so it's just as well they didn't get into a second game with the Friars; at least this way they're getting remembered for something.

Al McBean was the first of the half-dozen, way back in 1969. He started, and took the loss in, the fifth game in franchise history, giving up four earned runs on ten hits and two walks spread over seven innings. McBean had the longest career of the bunch by far, spending eight successful years with Pittsburgh before being selected with the fiftieth pick in the expansion draft. After his single game with San Diego, McBean was sent to the Dodgers for Leon Everitt and Tommy Dean. Used strictly as a reliever by Los Angeles, he got into 31 games the rest of the season and then, strangely enough, just one in 1970 before being released. He hooked back up with the Pirates and got knocked around for seven games before he was cut loose one last time.

Former Padres PH Todd Steverson hired as White Sox hitting coach

You might recall Steverson's playing career but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't.

It would be nearly 27 years until another player would join the one-game club. Outfielder Todd Steverson, whom you might recall being hired as the White Sox's new hitting coach a couple weeks ago, made his sole appearance for the Padres in April, 1996, after getting into 30 games with the Tigers the year before. Bruce Bochy sent him to the plate in Joey Hamilton's spot and Steverson struck out looking. It was to AAA Las Vegas after that and he never returned to the majors.

The Padres wouldn't have to wait nearly as long for the next one-timer. Pete Walker got his shot that September 7. Like Steverson, Walker appeared in a handful of games the previous season with a different team that wore blue and orange; in his case it was the Mets. Also like Steverson, he had a rough go of it in his one game with the Padres. It was going well at first; he retired the first two batters he faced after being summoned to pitch the eighth inning of a game the Cardinals were winning 8-3. Walker then proceeded to live up to his name by issuing free passes to Luis Alicea and a pair of players who were also once Padres, Mark Sweeney and Ozzie Smith. Having seen enough, Bochy brought in Mike Oquist, who retired future Friar Ray Lankford and saved Walker from having any earned runs attached to his name. It would take Pete until the year 2000 to make his way back to the bigs; he got into three games with the Rockies that season and two more with the Mets in 2001 before finding a solid role with Toronto for four seasons.

The fourth Friar to play just one game for the team was left fielder Jermaine Clark in 2003. Clark's case was an unusual one in that he played in 10 games with the Rangers that season before his sole game with the Padres, and 14 more games with the Rangers after it. He was waived by Texas and picked up by San Diego in late April, and then sold back in early July. His one game between the two deals was a 3-2 loss to Milwaukee in which he went 0-2 with a sacrifice fly for the only RBI recorded by any of the one-game wonders. In addition to his 25 games in 2003, Clark got into three games solely as a pinch-runner with the 2001 Tigers, 14 games with the Reds in 2004, and put a bow on his career with four games and no at-bats for the 2005 A's.

A little more than three years after Clark's day at Qualcomm, Justin Leone put his name in the Padres' record book. The big third baseman was sent to the plate in place of Doug Brocail with two outs in the eighth inning of a game in San Francisco, tasked with facing Matt Cain. He flied out to right fielder Moises Alou and that was that. Leone, who hit six homers in 102 at-bats with Seattle in 2004, wound up with a final major league total of six homers in 103 at-bats.

The most recent member to join this strange club was right-handed reliever Aaron Rakers. He put up great numbers in 13 games with Baltimore in 2004 and '05, but missed all of '06 due to shoulder surgery and came to the Padres as a free agent before the '07 season. Wearing the number 57 last worn by Jon Adkins, Rakers pitched the ninth inning of an 11-6 victory over Arizona to preserve the third win of Jake Peavy's Cy Young season. Aaron allowed only one hit in his full inning of work, a single to Chad Tracy. The three batters he retired would all go on to become Padres themselves - Orlando Hudson, Scott Hairston, and Carlos Quentin. Despite his fine work, Rakers was sent back to AAA Portland and scuffled the rest of the season. 2008 saw him try his hand at starting in the independent Atlantic League, and from there he moved on to Taiwan. He was voted the best pitcher in the league there in 2009, but he regressed the next season and hung 'em up after his release.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. Baseball's full of stories I could never dream up; I hope I never lose my passion to go digging for them.

Maybe it's just the pessimist in me, but I doubt a long-term deal is going to happen between the Padres and Chase Headley.  The Padres hesitated to make an offer last off-season when Headley was coming off an MVP-like second half.  They were obviously afraid that they'd end up buying high and he'd regress, which he ultimately did.

Then Ron Fowler proved to be a little too aggressive with the easily distracted third basemen when he offered to make him the highest paid Padre in franchise history.  I've learned that when you're trying to feed a shy bunny like Chase Headley, you have to remain really quiet and casual, even ignore him for a time.  Otherwise if you're too loud and over eager you're going to chase him back into his hole.  Fowler would be really bad at feeding bunny rabbits.

So now that the 2013 season is over, Headley should potentially be ready to talk about an extension.

#padres likely will talk contract with chase headley in orlando. no evidence sides have ever been close to deal tho.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 11, 2013

But is he still expecting to be paid as an MVP caliber player?  He's said before that he's not going to sell himself short.  Are the Padres convinced that he can return to form after a stinker of a season?  I, like you, have my doubts that we'll ever see Headley as he was in 2012 again.

Sources: There have not been any off-season talks about a long-term deal between the Padres and Chase Headley.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 14, 2013

Nobody hold their breath.

More from Gaslamp Ball:

• Live blogging a Padres email survey
• No contract extension talks between Chase Headley and the Padres... yet
• Padres One-Game Wonders
• A visit to the San Diego Hall of Champions Padres exhibit
• Padres "Pretty Deep" At Starting Pitching

Maybe this survey link will work for you.

What are the best entertainment options in San Diego?

I stared at my screen forever trying to answer the first question. I think it's because as a life long resident of San Diego, I don't necessarily take part in most entertainment options.  Am I answering this question as myself?  Or am I answering how I would entertain an out of town guest?  I decided on a little of both.  I don't like my answers.

1. Padres baseball
2. Outdoor activities
3. Theme parks
4.  Restaurants
5.  Historic places / Museums

Which of the following entertainment options have you attended in the past year?

Attended:

San Diego Zoo
Go to the beach
San Diego Chargers game
San Diego Padres game
Go to a movie

Did not attend:

Seaworld
Go to concerts
Theme Park

How would you rate the entertainment value of the following options, based on your experience or perception?

Isn't it weird that the Padres think that they are competing with the beach for fans?  Nobody is going to the beach at 7:05 pm on a weeknight, except for maybe the occasional bonfire.

Going to the beach - Excellent
Theme Park - Good
San Diego Chargers game - Average
San Diego Zoo - Good
Going to concerts - Average
Going to a movie - Average
San Diego Padres game - Good

How big of a Padres fan are you?

5 - Avid fan

Are the San Diego Padres your favorite Major League Baseball team?

I'm proud to answer, yes.

What are the first five (5) words or phrases that come to mind when you think of the San Diego Padres? Please enter them on separate lines below.

This was another question I had trouble answering.  I'm not feeling very creative today.

1. Tony Gwynn
2. Brown and Gold
3. Cub Busters
4. Friars
5. Pad Squad

Please select the words that you think best apply to the Padres.

Selected:

Family-friendly
Cares about San Diego Community
Fan-friendly
Losers
Boring
Fun
Amateur
Affordable
Corporate
Makes good decisions
Fan-accessible
Smart
Passionate
Expensive
Appreciates fans

Unselected:

Exciting
Authentic
Up-and-coming
Hard-working
Loyal
Committed to winning
Innovative
Classy
Winners
Respected
Genuine
Traditional
Youthful
Premium
Blue Collar

What colors come to mind when you think of the Padres?

Selected:

Brown
Yellow

Unselected:

Sky Blue
White
Red
Tan
Orange
Navy Blue
Grey

Grey?  Where are we the United Kingdom?

Which of the following logos is a current San Diego Padres logo?

Which of the following logos do you most associate with the San Diego Padres?

Suppose you are choosing between two banks that are alike in services offered and quality.  Bank A is the official bank of the San Diego Padres, while Bank B is unaffiliated with the team.  Does Bank A’s designation of “official bank of the Padres” sway you more toward Bank A?

No

If the San Diego Padres were a car – what kind of car do you think they would be?

This question again?

A 1969 Baja Bug

Why did you choose that type of car?

It's got a bad paint job, masking it's original colors.  It's cheap.  It's not reliable.  It can be fun to drive and also a nuisance.  It has a bunch of after market and junk yard parts installed.  Depending on who you're with, you are both embarrassed and proud to own it.

What is your opinion of the following components of the San Diego Padres organization?

Players/Team - Somewhat negative
Coaching staff - Neither negative nor positive
Front Office/Management - Somewhat positive
San Diego Padres fans - Mostly positive
Baseball Operations - Mostly positive

For each of the following descriptive terms or phrases, please indicate how well they describe the San Diego Padres.

Is an organization to be proud of - Describes a little bit
Is committed to wining - Does not describe at all
Ensures Padres players and coaches are accessible to the average fan - Does not describe at all
Provides affordable entertainment - Describes quite well
Ensures the Padres organization is accessible to the average fan - Does not describe at all
Celebrates its heritage and history - Does not describe at all
Cares about its fans - Describes quite well
Symbolizes San Diego - Describes quite well

What community causes do the Padres support?

Selected:

Children's youth baseball/softball
U.S. military personnel
Children's education
Cancer research
Drug prevention
Children's Health

I'm not familiar with their drug prevention program, but I'm sure they probably do support it.

How meaningful to you is it that the Padres support the following community causes?

Drug prevention - Means a little bit to me
Children's youth baseball/softball - Means a great deal to me
Children's health - Means a great deal to me
U.S. Military personnel - Means a great deal to me
Children's education - Means a great deal to me
Cancer research - Means a little bit to me

My answer to the drug prevention and Cancer research are what they are, because I'm not sure if they are effective programs.

Who is your favorite Padres player on the current roster?

I guess Jedd Gyorko, because he's the first person that came to mind.  I'm fickle.

Who is your favorite Padres player of all time?

C'mon, who you talking to?  As I've said before, if you grew up in San Diego in the 80's and your favorite player wasn't Tony the Gwynn then you were just trying to be different.

Please link the following players' names and photos.

Huston Street
Chris Denorfia
Yonder Alonso
Carlos Quentin
Jedd Gyorko
Tyson Ross
Cameron Maybin
Yasmani Grandal
Everth Cabrera
Nick Hundley
Dale Thayer
Andrew Cashner
Chase Headley
Will Venable
Luke Gregerson

Boom!  Nailed it.  Last year I didn't recognize Thayer.  I think they used a picture of him without his beard.

How many Padres games did you attend during the 2013 season?

30-39 games

This is an estimate.  I think I did about 30 games.

Which of the following best describes your ticket purchaser category for the San Diego Padres during the 2013 season?

I buy individual tickets and I get free tickets from family and friends too.

Please indicate your overall experience when attending San Diego Padres games.

Good.

How likely would you be to RECOMMEND attending a San Diego Padres game to a friend or colleague?

10 - Extremely likely

It's what I do.

What do you believe to be the average cost of a lower level ticket to a San Diego Padres regular season game? Your best guess is OK if you are not sure.

I'd guess the average is $45 or so.

What do you believe to be the average cost of an upper level ticket to a San Diego Padres regular season game? Your best guess is OK if you are not sure.

I don't know.  $25?

Which of the following types of giveaways do you prefer?

Selected:

Something to use (e.g. beach towel, blanket)

Unselected:

Something for my kids (e.g. batting gloves, mini bat)
Something to wear (e.g. t-shirts, jersey, ball cap)
Something to collect (e.g. bobblehead, blankets)
Do not care about giveaways

What time would you prefer Saturday night games started?

5pm

What time would you prefer weekday day games started?

4pm.  This was a tough one.  I think I could attend more if they were at 4pm, but I like a good afternoon business man special too.

Assume all Padres weekday days games were to start at 4pm.  How would that affect the likelihood of you attending more weekday games in the future?

Somewhat more likely.

The rest of the questions were for demographic and classification purposes.  I would classify that survey as "somewhat fun".

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